This is a fucking mess. This is all symptomatic of a Republican Congress which is pushing for privatization of government programs for the benefit of the corporations they represent. And what it spells for the rest of the country is disastrous. Once the USPS is phased out, our mail will be handled by private companies (UPS, FedEx, etc) who do not have to abide by the same regulations that the USPS does...and therefor can charge much more. And once the competition of prices from the USPS is gone, what's to stop them from changing their pricing structure?

This is where it starts. They're throwing around the idea of abolishing so many government programs, considering privatizing public schools, all while slashing taxes for the wealthy and corporations. We're in a massive economic crisis, and the Republicans refuse to even consider bringing taxes to pre-Bush cut rates. And they'd never entertain the idea to bring taxes to Clinton era rates, when our unemployment was at it's lowest in current years and job creation rate was highest. It's a sickening cycle that happens when we don't question where campaign money comes from and we just let our politicians be bought. And the Dems are just as guilty, because they don't have the balls to stand their party line and let the Republicans move the country further and further right.

[/rant]

"If you live your life to please everyone else, you will continue to feel frustrated and powerless. This is because what others want may not be good for you. You are not being mean when you say NO to unreasonable demands or when you express your ideas, feelings, and opinions, even if they differ from those of others.â€

Honestly though, you're right. This is a big problem and if it isn't resolved it could make us the 1st (and then only) country within the global market (that I ca think of) without a centralized, nationwide, postal service.

Phil Rubio's Interview was the first I'd heard of the severity of the situation. I feel like the news outlets are not giving this the proper amount of time to address.

Honestly though, you're right. This is a big problem and if it isn't resolved it could make us the 1st (and then only) country within the global market (that I ca think of) without a centralized, nationwide, postal service.

Phil Rubio's Interview was the first I'd heard of the severity of the situation. I feel like the news outlets are not giving this the proper amount of time to address.

Of course they're not! Fox News and other conservative outlets won't address it, because they're on the side that wants it to fail. And there are way more pressing things happening that the Dem/Liberal news outlets are addressing right now, and this is seemingly small potatoes. But it's just a small piece of a larger malfunction in our government.

[Edited on 15/9/11 by NachtcGleiskette]

"If you live your life to please everyone else, you will continue to feel frustrated and powerless. This is because what others want may not be good for you. You are not being mean when you say NO to unreasonable demands or when you express your ideas, feelings, and opinions, even if they differ from those of others.â€

Yeah, It's interesting how this is hardly being addressed in the "liberal" media. Let's face it, media is big business and they don't cover anything that would malign big business's control of the US.

I honestly don't know who to vote for anymore. I'm hoping someone independent will emerge because anyone else is going to be the same-old-same-old.

I may be a Christian, but I am by no means part of the far right. I realized years ago that the core leaders of the Republican party care more for the oil companies and large corporations than they do for family values. I abhor abortion, but I don't think it's the government's right to make that kind of personal decision for a woman. The the Reps drag the Christians around by the nose with their talk of "Right to Life" without really doing anything about it and I know way to many people who base their vote on that one issue. Pornography skyrocketed under Bush. It was actually the Clinton administration that did more to make family life better.

Anyway, I'm getting off topic. My husband is a teacher, and I got out of education because of what the Republicans are doing to schools in our state. They want everything to be privatized so they can continue to rape money off of us until there is no middle class. Heck, if you can't afford to send your kid to a good school than your kid won't be able to compete with their kids for the better jobs.

If this continues, I see our nation regressing to the Robber Baron days of the early part of the last century, where a few people have all the money and the rest of us have to scrounge for every dollar. It's already getting there. If this continues, we might start seeing uprisings in like those in the UK. Honestly, I'm starting to think viva la revolution.

*gets down off soap box*

[Edited on 9/17/11 by Indigo_Lady]

Always a Queen of Narnia

There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds. G.K. Chesterton